Well known in the art are pop-cards and pop-books in which pictures are transformed from a flat scene to a three-dimensional embodiment. In the typical pop-card, a card is folded flat for insertion into an envelope. When the card is opened, a plurality of figures "pop up" from the background. Each of the figures are generally cut from a singular piece of paper attached at various points on the card back. When the card is opened, these figures pop up in different planar positions. The figures are interlinked to one another by the singular base from which they are cut and are cut out of one another. The company Popshots, Inc. in Westport, Conn. is a manufacturer and designer of such cards. The problem with these cards is that each figure is cut out from a preceding figure and is flat. Thus, the shoulder of one figure will result in that section being cut out of a figure which stands behind it. This means that while the pop-up card is three-dimensional in view from a front perspective, if one looks at an angle at the pop-up picture or from the side, what is seen instead, is a plurality of edges from the figures and the connections therebetween. Also seen from a non frontal view is the fact that each figure is cut out from the other figures. Accordingly, the pop-up card obtains its three-dimensional affect only from a front view and each figure exists at the expense of another figure.
Similar three-dimensional creations are seen in French Patent No. 1,003,933 issued to Carliez, U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,320 issued to Fenyo, U.S. Pat. No. 2,984,920 issued to Acosta, U.S. Pat. No. 2,203,578 issued to Podmore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,147 issued to Herrin, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,998 issued to Flax. In all of these references, three-dimensional structures are disclosed from a front view only. The dimensionality of the structures in these instances is obtained by decorating plurality of flat layers and locating them in spaced relationship to one another in a container. As an example, in the Herrin patent, the back opaque wall of a display device is decorated and the front transparent wall is decorated. The two walls are situated in spaced relationship to one another and in a front on view, the effect of three-dimensionality is achieved.
In the Podmore reference, a plurality of walls are decorated and interlinked at their edges, the walls are spaced from one another to again provide the front view three-dimensional effect described above.
In these patents, as well as in the pop-up card, the viewer really does not obtain any sort of three-dimensional perspective when looking at the invention from anything other than a front on view.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,314,721 to Lowenstein also discloses a diorama construction. While this patent also fails to disclose a three-dimensional situation in which one can view the scene from anything other than a front view, it does differ from the other patents. In this reference, separate pieces of the scene are glued in spaced relationship to one another on a flat platform. In this way, from a front view, one obtains a three-dimensional view of the scene because of the spaced relationship of the different pieces to one another.
The present invention is an improvement over these prior art devices disclosing a three-dimensional paper structure which may be viewed from at least the sides and the front and which is housed in a largely transparent box. The connections between the various pieces is not readily apparent to the viewer from most views and these connections are accomplished either by known means of gluing or by a secure and hidden insertion of the figures in the platform on which they stand, in each other, or in the background. The figures are not necessarily flat, and in fact may be three dimensional in shape themselves.